In such vehicles, several passenger seats may be arranged within the passenger cabin along at least one longitudinal aisle, and display elements for displaying seat information may be arranged on the respective aisle seats.
In public transport vehicles, e.g., buses and streetcars, it is common practice to provide standing passengers with various holding elements in order to protect these passengers from falling under the influence of acceleration forces. For example, numerous transport vehicles are equipped with handles that are suspended from the ceiling or with holding rods that connect the floor or the back rest to the ceiling. Holding elements of this type are considered standard equipment in ground transport vehicles, but not provided in aircraft because a seat with a corresponding restraint (e.g., a seatbelt) is usually available for each passenger and each member of the flight crew in this case. On commercial aircraft, however, persons who are not seated in their assigned seats are at risk of becoming injured, for example, when the aircraft encounters turbulence. In addition to the flight crew, passengers may also use the aisle during the flight, for example, in order to stimulate the circulation or to use the restroom. Several passengers are frequently standing in the aisles, particularly on long-distance flights, and the aircraft may encounter an area with severe shear currents or vertical currents (so-called “clean air turbulence”) without warning if it travels at a correspondingly high altitude. This is particularly hazardous for persons standing in the aisles who are not protected in such instances and subjected to the acceleration forces.
Leaving aside this safety aspect, currently utilized passenger information systems with display elements for identifying the rows of seats and the seats of the individual rows are difficult to locate for air passengers during boarding. The reason for this can be seen in the fact that conventional display elements of this type are usually positioned above the seats underneath the luggage compartment in such a way that a direct association with the corresponding seat is impossible and the passengers need to bend down in order to read the displayed information. An information system for a passenger cabin is already known from DE 100 52 594. In this case, individual display elements are conspicuously arranged on the seats in order to provide improved seat information. However, no provisions for safety means of any type are mentioned in this solution.